Resources for Library Instruction  

Instruction librarians at BGSU will participate in a learning-community model of professional development in order to

• improve our understanding of established and emerging knowledge related to learning, instructional design, and information literacy;
• practice skills and abilities related to teaching and being an instruction liaison;
• explore new ideas and find ways to be creative and innovative in our professional practice;
• apply ideas/knowledge gained from professional development opportunities;
• learn from peers at different stages of librarianship; and
• create a project documented in a mini teaching portfolio, which may eventually lead to a publication or presentation.

The learning-community model encourages reflective practice among participants, making tacit knowledge more explicit and fostering a social network of shared expertise. 

Craig Gibson and Jamie Wright Coniglio discuss essential instruction competencies for liaison librarians in their recent chapter "The New Liaison Librarian: Competencies for the 21st Century Academic Library" in The Expert Library: Staffing, Sustaining, and Advancing the Academic Library in the 21st Century. Those competencies related to teaching and learning expertise (pp. 111-112) serve as the primary framework for this LibGuide:

• knowledge of student research and information behaviors (how to develop this knowledge more systematically)
• knowledge of discipline-specific pedagogies
• instructional design and assessment skills
• knowledge of, and experience with, "open" technologies and "open" knowledge environments that promote transformation of pedagogy
• knowledge of emerging teaching and learning practices and curricular models and how to connect information literacy competencies of students with them

Reference:
Gibson, Craig, and Jamie Wright Coniglio. "The New Liaison Librarian: Competencies for the 21st Century Academic Library." The Expert Library: Staffing, Sustaining, and Advancing the Academic Library in the 21st Century. Eds. Scott Walter and Karen Williams. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2010. 93-126. Print.

While Gibson and Coniglio provide a forward-looking view of liaison librarianship,  ACRL identifies essential proficiences in its Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators.  The proficiencies serve as a good reminder of various ways to improve our teaching and collaboration skills in these areas:

1. Administrative skills
2. Assessment and evaluation skills
3. Communication skills
4. Curriculum knowledge
5. Information literacy integration skills
6. Instructional design skills
7. Leadership skills
8. Planning skills
9. Presentation skills
10. Promotion skills
11. Subject expertise
12. Teaching skills

References:
Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators. Association of College and Research Libraries. 24 June 2007. Web. 30 November 2010. <http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/profstandards.cfm>.

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This site was originally created by Catherine Cardwell, Instruction Coordinator.